The Michigan Association for Adult and Continuing Education (MAACE) invites professionals working with adult learners to MAACE’s 52nd annual conference on Nov. 2-3, at the Soaring Eagle Casino Resort & Conference Center in Mount Pleasant, Mich.

This year’s conference, sponsored in part by Wayne State’s interdisciplinary studies department, will feature presentations and speakers from all aspects of adult and continuing education.

The purpose of the two-day event, titled “Focusing on the 3R’s: Resources, Revitalization, Results,” is to bring together those who work with adults and address the challenges and opportunities of educating them. Individuals representing diverse educational sectors and programs in school districts, community colleges, intermediate school districts, public and private colleges and universities, correctional facilities, literacy organizations and business and industry typically attend MAACE conferences.

Levine

FIls

Williams

Dianne Duthie, State Director, Adult Education, Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth, will speak on Thursday, Nov. 2, at 9:45 a.m. She will present a State of the State update on the status of Adult Education in Michigan and its relationship to economic growth.

S. Joseph Levine will speak on Nov. 2 during the 12:45 p.m. luncheon. Levine joined the Michigan State University faculty in 1967 and was a member of the faculty of the Learning Systems Institute and the program of studies in Adult and Continuing Education. In 1987 he joined MSU’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources where he coordinated the graduate program in Agricultural and Extension Education.

Since retirement from MSU in 2004, Levine has focused on the use of the Internet and the World Wide Web as an essential adult learning tool. He has been involved with a variety of distance education initiatives for both formal and non-formal education.

Barbara Flis will speak on Friday, Nov. 3, at 9:45 a.m., sharing her experience as an adult student and the impact that instructors had on her educational and personal outcomes. Founder of Parent Action for Healthy Kids, Flis has been working for more than 14 years on initiatives to connect home, school and community on behalf of children. In 2005, she was appointed by Governor Jennifer Granholm to coordinate the Talk Early & Talk Often initiative designed to help parents gain knowledge and skills to talk to their middle school children about abstinence and sexuality. A 2002 Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies graduate of Wayne State University, she is currently completing her master’s of interdisciplinary study at WSU.

Joseph Williams, scheduled to speak on Friday, Nov. 3, at 12:45 p.m., will share his insights on adult education focusing on the responsibility of prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families on learning. He is the founder and chief executive officer of New Creations Community Outreach, Inc., an international ministry model for serving prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families. He received a bachelor’s degree from William Tyndale College and a master’s degree from Wayne State. Williams is the author of “Sheep in Wolves Clothing: When the Actions of a Christian turn Criminal.”

For more detailed information on the conference and registration forms and procedures, visit the MAACE Web site at www.maace.org.

Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education offering more than 350 academic programs through 11 schools and colleges to more than 33,000 students in metropolitan Detroit.